Baby Steps
by DreamBrother
Summary: Preseries, preGeniusCharlie, actually, and Little Don. A story from their childhood, before the advent of guns and chalk. Margaret Eppes included.


**Title:**Baby Steps

**Author: **DreamBrother

**Summary: **Pre-series, pre-GeniusCharlie, actually, and Little Don. A story from their childhood, before the advent of guns and chalk. Margaret Eppes included.

**Disclaimer:**As long as I'm allowed to tinker with them, ownership isn't wanted.

**Author's Note: **My lunge into the fluff pool. Let's see how it turns out. I'm not good with kids, so this is a bit strange. I'm going with the info that the age difference between the two brothers is 5 years. Music part of Margaret comes from 2x15 The Running Man. Thanks to **Chireiya** for her help regarding what in the world a kid would do when he's just sitting around.

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**Baby Steps**

It was as though a painter had taken up his brush and painted a serene picture right into the living room of the Eppes' Craftsman home. Margaret Eppes, for all intents and purposes, looked as though she was reading the paper before her, a law journal, her eyes absorbing the words, but in reality, in her mind she was Margaret Mann, listening to a tune only she could hear, composing and trying to improve a piece of music she had written in secret just last week. Next to her feet, on the ground with his back against the sofa, sat her six-and-a-half year old son, Don, immersed, by all appearances, in reading a children's book, homework from school. She wouldn't put it past him that his mind was elsewhere and the reading was just a façade; after all, his mother was guilty of the exact same thing. Her youngest son, Charlie, just over a year old, sat on his little behind in the middle of the living room, atop a soft blanket, playing with blocks. He hadn't learnt how to crawl yet, so she wasn't afraid that he would wander into treacherous territory while her attention was elsewhere.

She had just thought of the beginning notes of a new composition, tuning out the baby sounds emitted by her youngest once in a while, didn't notice that her firstborn hadn't turned a page of his book in the last 10 minutes, when her concentration was broken by Don calling out to her. She looked up, following his gaze which was fixed on his baby brother, who had begun to act strangely.

Before their very eyes, Charlie placed his chubby hands on the seat of a chair near him, and slowly but surely began to pull himself up and straighten his legs under him, his back to his family. Waiting a few moments, until he was a bit steadier on his feet, he began to turn around slowly. Once he did, he fixed his eyes on his brother and mother, and smiled a huge baby smile. For all Margaret knew, her boy was probably thinking ''Look Ma! Made it, top of the world!'' But that was not the end. Charlie was nothing if not ambitious. Simply standing up on his free will was not enough. Setting a destination in mind (his family), he lifted his right leg, hovering in the air for a bit, as though Charlie was thinking, 'Ok, lifted the leg. Now what?' and placed it a tiny distance in front of him. Charlie's first step. Margaret was just about to get up from the sofa and move towards her youngest to catch him if and when he fell; she knew he would never make it all the way without falling, but Don beat her to it. He quickly scrambled up and fell to his knees a few feet in front of his brother, far enough so that Charlie would have to walk a bit more to get to him, but close enough that he could lunge forward at a moment's notice and break his brother's fall.

Charlie's smile widened when he saw his big brother make his way to him, and thought it enough motivation to try a few more leg-lifts and placing. The presence of his big brother just a few feet away also made him want to move faster so he gave up on his slow-but-steady approach to walking and hurried as much as he could. Of course, he only managed a few quick steps before he stumbled, but it was enough for Don to wrap his arms around his baby brother and give him a hug.

''Way to go, Charlie! You walked! A bit more practice and soon we'll be playing baseball together!'' exclaimed Don.

Margaret had to stifle a laugh as she heard Don's words. At this point, Charlie was more likely to want to chew the baseball rather than play with it. He liked to chew. Books couldn't be left out in the open, within his reach, or else they would end up with bite marks all around the edges, smeared in saliva. In retrospect, it was probably an indication of Charlie's intelligence: he couldn't read but he wanted to digest information so he went the literal route. But she couldn't help feeling a bit proud of her firstborn. It wasn't easy adjusting to a new member of the family, when for 5 years, you were the sole recipient of your parent's attention, but Don had handled it well, and was shaping up to become a great big brother. Charlie was lucky. Don immediately moving forward to be ready to catch his brother lest he fall only cemented that feeling.

Charlie was again on his behind, giggling and squirming as his brother tickled him, when Margaret knelt down by the two of them, giving Don a squeeze on the shoulder for his thoughtfulness, and ruffling Charlie's curls in congratulations for his first step. She still thought it was strange that her youngest had decided to forego the middle stage of crawling, and go from being planted firmly on the ground, in one place for hours, to walking. It could have been a blessing though, Don had been a terror when he had learned to crawl, Margaret constantly having to keep a vigilant eye on his ceaseless wanderings.

''Daddy's going to be so proud to know his Charlie walked today, when he comes home for work. Maybe you can give him a demonstration too, huh? You were running a bit late on the walking front but not anymore. Come, Donnie, how about we go get an ice-cream to celebrate? Pretty soon your brother is going to start chasing you around.''

Khatum (The End)

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Ok, so another one bites the dust (plot bunnie, that is). Hope you liked. I don't have a lot experience (read none) with kids so this is a bit of a step. As for the going straight to walking part, if it seems strange to you, it's not. My 2 brothers and I did the same thing. So...let me know wht you think. 


End file.
